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"LT O W A R D 
MEMORIAL 
LIBRARY 

NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO 


LOUISIANA 


HISTORY 


By WILLIAM BEER, 


Librarian. 


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l! 

NEW ORLEANS, LA 
1906, 

200 COPIES PRINTED. 



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The necessity for the joint stuay 
of biography and history for the de- 
scription of any g-reat event is ad- 
mirably shown in the bearing- of 
three books just discovered in ah 
English catalogue, and fortunately 
able to be purchased for a library, 
which already possessed nearly all 
the available printed matter and 
some manuscript matter relating to 
the Battle of New Orleans. 

The authorities available for ordi- 
nary purposes are to be had in several 
of the g-reat cities of the United 
States, but in none of them is there 
as much material as in the Howard 
Memorial Library, at New Orleans. 

After securing all the public rec- 
ords an attempt has been made to 
join to these the biograpliies of those 
who, having- taken part in the battle, 
survived and rose to eminence, and 
of some who did not share their good 
fortune, but remained in humble 
positions. 

"The Autobiography of Lieutenant- 
General Sir Harry Smith," was pub- 
lished by John Murray, in London, in 
1902. Tlie two volumes are well 
printed, and nave many interesting 
illustrations, unfortunately none or 
them of the particular point of in- 
terest. 

Sir Harry Smith was born in 17Sv, 
and was consequently twenty-seven 



years of age at the time of land- 
ing in Louisiana, 

Curious details are given which ac- 
count for the delays which enabled 
Andrew Jackson to bring up his for- 
ces and prepare for action. 

The Captain of the ship on which 
he sailed with his regiment insistea 
on shortening sail every night to 
the great amusement of the crew, 
who had just lost a dashing cap- 
tain, who insisted on full sail at all 
times. 

He gives a very full description 
of the pleasant relations existing be- 
tween Sir Edward Packenham and his 
officers. 

He speaks of the want of discipline 
in the Twenty-first and Forty-fourth 
Regiments. 

He gives the reasons for the wan: 
of co-operation of Thornton's corps 
with the general body of troops. 

It was Sir Harry Smith who car- 
ried the flag- of truce to General 
Jackson. The want of experience in 
the civilities of war on the part ot 
the Americans led to their firing on 
him with cannon and musketry. 
When ho was received eventually 
the reply from General Jackson was 
very courteous. 

He speaks of the respect of the 
Americans for tlie dead, from whom 
not an article of clothing was taken. 

Colonel Butler's aide-de-camp was 
very angry when Sir Harry Smith 
addressed the Spanish and French- 
men in their own language. This 
was a part of Jackson's suspicious 
attitude toward the original colo- 
nists. 

He is of opinion that Mullins, who 
was court-martialed for not having 
the ladders and fascines ready, was 
made a scapegoat. 



The disaster at New Orieau:? he 
compares with that at Buenos Ayres. 

In "Peace, War and Adventure." an 
autobiographical memoir of George 
Laval Chesterton, formerly of the 
British Royal Artillery, is an ac- 
count that covers the attack on W ash- 
ington, and the Battle of New Or- 
legins. 

He describes what he calls the 
Quixotic character of the opposition 
of the small flotilla under Lieuten- 
ant Catesby Jones, and gives many 
details of the approach to the coast 
of Lake Borgne. 

He gieatly blames the wane or 
enterprise of Admiral Cochrane, and 
the lack of the commonest infor- 
mation as to the defenceless con- 
dition of the city. He describes an 
incident not generally mentioned ol 
a rash sorty of a small body of troops 
from Jackson's line, which resulted 
in the death of three horsemen. One 
of the horses, well caparisoned, was 
captured and taken back to Eng- 
land. , . „ ,, 

The account of the battle is full 
of personal details, furnishing infor- 
mation not within the knowledge ot 
Sir Harrv Smith, who was at that 
time closely attached to the com- 
manding officers. , ^. 

He gives considerable space to the 
Creek Indians, who were brought to 
the army by Colonel Nicholls. 

Nowhere can be found so detailed 
an account of the retreat. 

He gives an account of a ride 
with the Duke of Wellington, in 
which he discussed the Battle of New- 
Orleans. The Duke regretted that 
so many of the great battles, in- 
cluding "that of Trafalgar, had been 
fought on Sunday, and asked for de- 
tails of New Orleans. The Duke 



blamed the landing on Lake Borgno. 
He stated that he was consulted on 
the subject, and deemed it injudi- 
cious to use the lakes for landing an 
army, because crafts large enough 
for the purposes of trade were un- 
able to get to the shore. 

It is not astonishing that historie;? 
should have been written, in con- 
siderable detail, of the most cele- 
brated regiments of the British 
Army. Several of these are intei - 
esting to the student of New Orleans 
history, notablv that of the Ninety- 
third Sutherland Highlanders, which 
took an important part in the battle. 
The account is naturally not as de- 
tailed as that given in the previously 
mentioned volumes, being mainly 
based on the book by Gleig. It gives, 
however, a few additional references 
fiom correspondents which are of 
value. 

The writer of this history lays 
great stress on the insubordination 
of Colonel Mullins. 

The nam.es of all the officers and 
men killed during the attack on 
New Orleans are given at length. 

In the appendix it is stated that 
that Lieutenant Colonel Dale was 
buried in one of the colors of the 
regiment. 

It is frequently as interesting to 
discover information in material al- 
ready in the possession of an in- 
stitution as to lind it in books, which 
necessarily need additional space. 

An examination of Part 1, Vol- 
ume 4, of the "Congressional Debates 
of 1827-1828," furnishes two exceed- 
irgly interesting additions to the 
bibliography of the battle. One of 
them illustrates very forcibly how a 
subject of almost minute importance 
may from some special reason be 



iijade to occupy the attention of a 
body of great importance for tlie 
time utterly out of proportion. 

In the first session of the twenti- 
etli Congress, Edward Livingston, 
Kepresentative from New Orleans, 
moved an amendment to a report of 
a committee unfavorable towards a 
bill for the relief of Marigny D'Au- 
terive. This was a private bill for 
remuneration. The claim was for 
the lost time of his slave, impressed 
by General Andrew Jackson in serv- 
ice of the United States in New Or- 
leans, and who was wounded, and 
also for hospital charges. 

This case occupied the attention 
of Congress for some ten days, and 
the debates upon it revealed the 
state of tension between the North- 
ern and Southern Repretentatives in 
Congress. 

Edward Livingston held that the 
rejection of the claim was a denial 
of the right of property in the slave. 
His speech on the 4th of January, 
1828, brought forth many interesting 
statements, among others a list of 
similar claims, which showed that 
General Jackson had made great 
use of impressed slaves in His de- 
fense. 

The Southern members to a man 
stood by Mr. Livingston. The mem- 
bers from. Northern States opened up 
the whole question of the indivisible 
nature of slavery, and suggested that 
the white men of Louisiana used 
their slaves as substitutes for figiit- 
ing purposes, and when, they were 
"v^'-ounded endeavored to extract blood 
money in satisfaction. 

Many members made Ion a: speeches- 
calling from the pag-es of history 
illustrations of greater or less rele- 
vance. 



Mr. Gurley, of Louisiana, gives a 
short but graphic account of the 
Events of the 23d of December. 

A few of the members rose to 
sug-g-est the limitatio.i of the debate, 
but made long speeches provoking 
replies whicli tended to prolong it. 
Almost all the celebrated and maiiv 
of the obscure members of Congress 
took part in the debate. Almost 
everyone prefaced his speech bv a 
declaration of unwillingness " to 
lengthen the debate, but few con- 
tributed less than four pages to 
the record. 

Marigny D'Auterive claimed $1,094, 
oi Avhich $755 were allowed, and the 
whole discussion was over tlie bal- 
lance of $339. Surgeon's bill, $24: 
lest time, one month, $15; deprecia- 
tion. $200. 

This immensely long debate fur- 
nishes a few absolutely certain de- 
tails to our knowledge Of the meth- 
ods of General Jackson in his mag- 
nificent and successful defense of 
the city. It resulted in the pavment 
of tlie sum by a narrow majority of 
four votes in a total of 198. 

On Jan. 8, 1828, Mr. Hamilton, of 
South Carolina, moved an inquirv on 
the exprediency of having a liistorical 
picture of the battle of New Orleans 
placed in one of the panels of the 
rotunda of the Capitol. In a speech 
abounding with the flowers of rhet- 
oric he made this resolution, which 
provoked an amendment from the 
enemies of the hero of the battle, 
opening up a comparison between 
this and a thousand other battles 
fought in other States. The debate 
was intensely personal. It was a 
case of anything to beat Jackson. 
His enemies apparently conquered. 



The resolution was rejiected by a 
vote of 103 to 98. 

It is interesting- occasionally to 
take up volumes of older periodicals 
for comparison with those of the day. 
Editors and contributors belong to a 
class seldom reached in modern pe- 
riodicals. 

The volume of the New Monthly 
Magazine, for 1846, was edited by 
that prolific and once popular au- 
thor, Harrison Ainsworth. Among 
its contributors are Horace Smith, 
the joint author of "Rejected Ad- 
dresses;" Talfourd, the author of 
"Ion," Saptain Marryat, Mrs. Trol- 
lope, G. P. R. James, Frances Anne 
Butler and Michielet. 

The editor evidently considered 
that American Information was de- 
manded. Many of the articles re- 
late to the new world. Of local in- 
terest is a seri-es under the title of 
"Echoes from the Back Woods," by 
Captain Levinge, who, after a term 
of duty witli his regiment in Canada, 
made a tour of the United States in 
the then customary manner, mostly 
by steamier. 

His observations on the natural 
history, and especially on the birds, 
are extremely interesting. His visit 
to Alexandria occurred at a time 
when what he calls the ruffiians who 
composed thie invading army of 
Texas, were passing up the Red 
River. 

Railroads have changed the coun- 
try since he saw it. The only sign 
of a road on the broad prairies was 
made by the hundreds of oxen driven 
to tlie New Orleans market. 

New Orleans at this period was the 
paradise of gamblers and adventur- 



^rs. He praises the leating in the ha- 
tels. 

The trip to Mobile was by steamer 

-throug-h the Rigolets, which he de- 
scribes as aboundiag- In allig-ators. 

Joathesome reptiles of all, sorts and 
myriads of mosquitoes. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Autobiography of Lieutenant Gen- 
eral Sir Harry Smith, edited by G. 
C. Moorie Smith, two volumes, 8vo, 
with portraits and illustrations. Lon- 
don, 1902, pp. 382 and 434. 

Peace, War and Adventure, an Au- 
tobiog-raphical Memoir of George La- 
val Chesterton, two volumes, 12mo. 
London, 1853, pp. 282 and 32r.. 

Burgoyne, Captain R. H.. Records 
of the Ninety-third Sutherland High- 
landers, on volume, 8vo., pp. 430. 
London, 1883. Illustrated with col- 
ored drawings of uniforms and plans 
of battles. 

Register of Debates in Congress. 
Contains the leading debates and in- 
cidents of the first session of the 
Twentieth Congress, volume 4, Wash- 
ington, 1828, 8vo., pp. 736 and XIX. 

The New Monthly Magazine and 
Humorist. Volume 79. London, 184(5. 
WILLIAM BEER. 



39 



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